Chapter Text
Snotlout had it all, muscles, tattoos,... Okay, maybe he didn't have it all, but he definitely had more than his cousin, Hiccup. Hiccup was small, skinny, very un-viking like and currently attached to an end of a dangling rope climbing up the Dragon Cliff. As he hung in the air, waiting for a nearby rock to get within his reach, he thought about the smell.
The group eventually got to the right eye of the skull and untied their ropes, the ground rough under their feet. It was silent with the exception of an echo or two coming from the dark path in front of them. The boys waited for Snotlout to give his next order.
After a few quiet seconds, he looked at them and loudly announced, “I'm going in first, since I'm going to be the next chief, not Useless.” He looked at Fishlegs as he said the next part, “Anyone got a problem with that?”
Fishlegs just stared back at him, clearly wanting to say something, before he received a warning kick from Hiccup to keep quiet. Snotlout stood there, smug, like he was actually waiting for someone else to say something.
“Just go into the damn cave already!” sneered Speedifist. Snotlout sneered back, before turning, dramatically so, and entering the Nursery with his usual bravado. Speedifist went in soon after and so did six other boys, leaving only Hiccup and Fishlegs at the entrance.
“Is it really worth it?” Fishlegs wondered, the circles under his eyes showing that he hadn't slept a wink. Hiccup could relate.
After a few seconds of contemplating and breathing in the fresh air, he replied, “Well, it's either getting eaten by a dragon or getting kicked out of the tribe.”
Fishlegs looked a mix of annoyed and petrified, but as the light of the last torch got smaller and smaller, they had no other choice but to go in.
~~~
A wave of nausea washed over Hiccup as they finally got to the heart of the Nursery. Not just because of the smell (which was the part he had expected, but was still unprepared for), but also because of the mix of fear and excitement he felt. The first time he had felt something like this, was when he had snuck up on a sleeping dragon to sketch it into his sketchbook for the first time. He was about five or six, and even though getting anywhere near a dragon at that age was considered incredibly brave, it wouldn't be seen as an act of a normal viking by the village. The more he continued to surround himself with sleeping dragons, the more he dropped his guard. He only ever got that excitement whenever he expanded his research, first by watching the dragons simply fly around the clouds, then watching his father fishing with his two hunter dragons, then watching dragons hunt in their natural habitat and most recently, about three years or so ago, talking to each other.
He knew now that what he drew back then was an adult Gronkle, one that didn't look as acne prone and terrifying as most others of its kind. As if on cue, Dogsbreath and Wartihog dropped the heavy Gronkle they had been fighting over on the cave floor, making a bang loud enough to be heard by Gobber on the beach. There were a few horrible seconds of only echoes, while the Gronkle stared into nothingness. Hiccup kept firm eye contact, expecting the third lid to lift up at any second… as the Gronkle slowly shut his eyes once more, and promptly got shoved into Dogsbreath's basket.
‘Well this is going off to a good start.’ Hiccup thought sadly, before his attention was taken by the beauty of the cave. More accurately, what was inside the cave. ‘How am I meant to pick just one dragon?’ ‘How am I expected to carry any of these things back home?’ ‘What happens if I don't pass the initiation?’ ‘Thor, I wish I could live somewhere else, just for a day. Maybe a holiday trip in France? Maybe Rome?’ ‘No, not Rome, that place sucks.’ ‘Does it?’
“Hey Speedifist, look what I got!” Snotlout whisper-yelled mockingly at his friend. Speedifist looked a little stunned at first, but then just rolled his eyes and continued looking for any dragon that wasn't a Common or Garden or Basic Brown. Snotlout then turned to Dogsbreath, who looked a little pale in the face from the incident earlier. He giggled a little when he saw what was in the basket. Then, Snotlout turned to show the dragon to the rest of the boys, before noticing Hiccup looking in their direction.
“Looking for something, chief?” he grinned, before walking over and shoving the basket to his face. In it slept a Monstrous Nightmare, with deep velvet scales and long twirled horns. Hiccup noticed the loud snores and smoke coming from the creature and froze. ‘This dragon isn't in a deep sleep. It really shouldn't be shaken like that.’
“Aw, don't be scared, hic-cup, she won't bite…” He began pulling the basket back, before quickly rushing it even closer to his face than before, shaking it violently, giggling and accidentally hitting the dragon's snout against Hiccup's forehead, the small horn giving him a tiny cut. As he actually began pulling back, only Hiccup noticed the dragon's eyes opening a smidge, before it disappeared in Snotlout's basket.
Now, a little spooked, very annoyed and embarrassed, Hiccup just walked over to the nearest dragon he could find, a rather peaceful looking Basic Brown, and gently put it into his basket. As he was zipping it up, he heard a massive crash. A shiver ran through him, ‘Did the Nightmare wake up?’
No, it was worse. Way worse. Fishlegs was standing in front of a pile of, now collapsed, Deadly Nadders. Miraculously, almost all of them were still asleep. All but one. It sat straight, looking up with hazy eyes, and just when it began to slowly close them… Fishlegs released four MASSIVE sneezes.
The Nadder snapped its head toward Fishlegs, but before it could begin to scream and wake up all the dragons, a muffled but powerful screech came from the other side of the cave, near the entrance. The Nightmare had, indeed, woken up. The panic was obvious on Snotlout's face, as he began getting thrown around by the dragon's attempt to escape, hitting a sharp looking rock face first.
All the boys near the entrance left their torches behind and sprinted into the tunnel, only the clanking of their helmets and pained, fearful yells could be heard behind them. Dogsbreath took a moment to assess the situation, but saw how Snotlout was flailing around from one wall to another, and came to the conclusion that there was nothing to be done for his friend, and ran off with the others. Hiccup and Fishlegs were the last two in the cave, as Snotlout had made it a little ways into the tunnel, but was still noticeably struggling to move in a single direction. Hiccup grabbed Fishlegs by the arm and started running past his cousin, when something grabbed him by the leg, almost making him faceplant into the solid cave floor.
“WAIT!” Snotlout yelled. It sounded like a command, but his eyes exposed his fear and desperation. He looked like Hiccup after an easy going game of bashyball, bleeding from his nose and an ugly looking cut on his upper lip. The Nadder had woken up a few more dragons at this point, which were still rubbing the sleep from their eyes and yawning, showing off their big mouths with even bigger teeth.
Hiccup looked at Fishlegs, expecting him to object somehow, but Fishlegs was just mumbling to himself. It was a little difficult to understand through the louder and louder screeching of waking up dragons, but Hiccup could make out something along the lines of “...dragon. I don't have a dragon.”
He felt another strong tug at his leg, this time as Snotlout got pulled back into the Nursery by the Monstrous Nightmare.
“Just lose the dragon and run!” Hiccup shouted, though he could barely hear himself over the noise. Snotlout seemed to hear him loud and clear though.
He almost looked offended. “Are you crazy? No way! That there is a Monstrous Nightmare, I need it!” He too started looking over his shoulder, though whether it was at the increasing danger or the basket on his back, Hiccup didn't know.
Fishlegs took a step towards the Nursery, looking dazed, but before he could make it too far, he was stopped by Hiccup. He was panicking now, as he realized he was surrounded either by people willing to throw their life away over the Initiation or furious dragons, who just woke up from their nap to find many of their friends and family missing.
It was almost surprising how long it took for one to attack, and it went straight for Hiccup's face. Luckily, for Hiccup at least, a well timed spasm from Snotlout landed the small dragon on the back of his helmet instead.
Now, Hiccup was surrounded by noise, with the echoes of the walls making it especially headache inducing. He took off the bag with his Basic Brown in it and shoved it into Fishlegs. Then practically tearing off the basket on his back while receiving a nasty bite from a Nadder.
“For Thor's sake, just run! Run already!”
“But, if you don't have a dragon-”
“RUN!”
Fishlegs caught the determined spark in Hiccup's eyes, and with guilt already pooling up in his gut, he put the basket on his back and ran for the exit. “I'll wait for you at the entrance!" he yelled, but Hiccup didn't hear him.
~~~
Hiccup stood over his cousin, whose larger frame was protecting him from most of the dragon attacks. The current problem was, Snotlout was getting dragged back into the cave by the dragon attached on his back, resulting in him being mercilessly scratched and bitten by tens of dragons. Solution? make him drop the dragon.
“Listen,” Hiccup got as close as he dared to, but still had to yell, “no dragon is worth your life.” He didn't exactly believe that, but it seemed convincing enough at the moment.
Snotlout took a deep breath through his nostrils, which looked mildly painful. “Are you joking? Do you know what will happen if I don't come back with a dragon?” his voice faltered a little at the end. “What would they think-?” A strangled sob escaped him.
For a second, Hiccup thought about leaving him there. He thought about waking up to a peaceful morning, without having to mentally prepare himself for a breakfast in the Mead Hall. He would be able to walk around Berk without the fear of getting attacked from behind a corner. He could show his face in public without his every action being mocked and criticized. Maybe, just maybe, he would be okay. But what about when he went through that peaceful day, still getting kicked around, but not nearly as ferociously, and then going to bed and thinking, ‘But what if?’
‘What if that day in the cave, I would have got him out. What would it be like? Life, what would life be like? Would he have changed? Maybe leave me alone, at least?’
‘Probably not.’ “There's another dragon at the entrance.”
Snotlout gave him an expression between a scowl and a wince. “Like I would fall for that!”
‘Well, I gave it my best shot.’ Hiccup thought, before grabbing a rock and smashing through the wall of dragons. When there was an opening, he simply lifted his hand as high as he could and threw the rock at the basket. The dragon inside gave a small wince, but slowed down its trashing, giving Snotlout the power to move somewhat freely again.
He grabbed Hiccup, probably because there wasn't much room to squeeze through, and they ran as fast as their legs could go. At some points in the cave they ran pretty far from one another, at others their knees scratched against each other and the walls painfully. The dragons had left them badly wounded at this point, and Hiccup wasn't even sure he would make it halfway. Whenever he was sure he was seeing the light of the outside, it turned out to be a Glow-worm or a Flame Huffer.
Eventually, he did recognise a part of the maze and stopped near that particular spot. Snotlout paid him no mind and kept on running. Hiccup barely had the time to lift up the sleeping dragon, and had absolutely no time to put him in a basket, so he ran with him in his arms instead, doing his best to shield it from the cave walls and any stray scratches or bites from the dragons.
After what seemed like hours, but was only about three minutes, he finally smelled fresh air again. The dragons had cut up his ears, which were the only parts that stuck out of his helmet. They burnt in the cold.
“WHAT ON EARTH WERE YOU DOING IN THERE!” yelled Gobber the Belch, only slightly louder than usual. “I WAS ALREADY PREPARING A SPEECH TO STOICK!” He had wanted to keep that part for himself, but in the chaos of fighting off dragons with only an axe, and seeing Hiccup bleeding everywhere that wasn't the middle of his face, it got a bit difficult to think.
“JUMP!”
“Huh… What?” was all Hiccup could muster. He was currently putting the mystery dragon into his basket, not really registering anything.
“I SAID JUMP!” Gobber yelled, as he grabbed Hiccup and tossed him into the water below.
~~~
“Never… NEVER in my fourteen years of teaching, have I come across such a bunch of USELESS, INCAPABLE and INCOMPETENT EXCUSES FOR VIKINGS AS YOU LOT!” Gobber was using the big words correctly, that's how you know he's being serious. “ALL you had to do was GO IN, steal a SLEEPING DRAGON, and GET OUT! THAT'S IT!”
He covered his eyes with his hands and took a deep breath before continuing. “Now, tell me, WHO WOKE UP THE DRAGONS!”
“I did.” Hiccup said without much hesitation.
“Oh, well isn't that just wonderful. Our futur-”
“It was Fishlegs, sir! The allergic limpet sneezed and woke up an entire pile of Nadders!” Snotlout interrupted. His voice sounded weird, like his nose was being pinched, but the anger was still very clearly communicated.
Gobber looked at Fishlegs and, sure enough, the trembling fella was covered in a painful rash, which Gobber had assumed came from him faceplanting into the sea. The other boys quickly jumped in to back up Snotlout's claims. “It's true sir!” “It was real loud!” “The blind octopus probably thought it was a Basic Brown or something!” “He actually sneezed five times, sir!” “He probably did it on purpose too!”
“SILENCEEEE!!!” yelled Gobber, who was now the color of a plum. All the voices stopped immediately. “You all nearly failed a simple military mission! LIMPETS FOR THREE WEEKS!!”
~~~
The boys were almost at the gates now. Hiccup and Fishlegs trailed behind them, like they usually did, but this time they were a little farther because of Hiccup's injuries. Strangely, Snotlout, who was usually at the front of the group, was now trailing a little back too, although still nowhere near Hiccup and Fishlegs. He walked alongside Dogsbreath with a noticeable limp, and at some point they stopped. A painful cracking sound could be heard, which was probably, hopefully, the sound of Snotlout's nose being reset.
“My life is OVER!” Fishlegs said for the twelfth time. “Even if by some miracle I do become a full-fledged member, nobody in the tribe will ever speak to me again!” Hiccup had tried to comfort his friend, but it had become increasingly obvious that Fishlegs wasn't really listening to any advice or assurances he gave him, so Hiccup just let him swim in his self-pity for now. The rain and cold air were harsh against his wounds, and he found himself not really listening to Fishlegs either. When they finally stopped at the gates, the boys dropped their baskets and showed off their dragons.
“And what about you, Snotlout?” asked Speedifist, after showing off a purple Nadder. “Don't see a hole in the basket, you still got the Nightmare?”
Snotlout, not very carefully, slid the basket onto the ground and unzipped it, revealing the same Monstrous Nightmare, now with a little bump on its head.
“Got you pretty good, didn't it?” Wartihog chimed in. “How'd you even get out? I thought for sure you would've just grabbed ano-”
“SHUT UP OR I'LL CHOKE YOU! YOU LIMPET! YOU SEA URCHIN! YOU- you…” It was clearly still a sore subject.
The boys went quiet, until Dogsbreath, who wasn't really ever good at reading these kinds of situations, spoke up. “Why were you and, um, Hiccup in there for so long?” Everyone now turned to Hiccup, except for Snotlout, who stared firmly into the ground. He thought that maybe, just maybe, if he pretended this question wasn't asked, the next one won't be either.
“Wait, did you have to get help… from Hiccup?” A laughter emanated from the crowd. Snotlout tried to deny it, but that only confirmed the suspicion.
“Oh Thor, you did! You totally did!” laughed Speedifist, before gasping loudly, “You owe Hiccup your life!” At this, the crowd became hysterical. Snotlout looked like he was about to explode, but also looked as small as Hiccup had ever seen him.
In the confusion, Hiccup and Fishlegs managed to sneak away, deciding to look at their dragons at Hiccup's hut instead.